The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
An aspect of the present invention relates to a method for the preparation of an alkali metal cinnamate powdery product and to the product itself. Further, an aspect of the present invention is directed to product applications in which said alkali metal cinnamate product may be applied.
Alkali metal cinnamates such as for example potassium cinnamate and sodium cinnamate are known to be prepared via crystallization. A crystallization process is a costly and complex process. Crystallization processes require several liquid/solid-separation steps for separation of the crystals. The crystals further are treated in several wash- and drying steps. Additional processing steps are needed for treating the mother liquid and the various purge streams that are a result hereof. In all these steps the risk of potential product losses and yield losses is very high making the crystallization process complex and costly.
The crystallization process itself is known to be very difficult to control. This leads to a crystalline product that does not always have very favorable properties for the applications in which it is to be used. There is need for alkali metal cinnamates powders having improved flowability and dissolution properties. Further, crystalline potassium cinnamate for example is relatively cohesive and dusty. These unfavorable properties lead to practical and safety problems in handling and transporting of the crystalline product and in particular when looking at the dust explosion characteristics of for example potassium cinnamate. Further, significant amounts of products are lost in these operations as much product stays behind. It further requires additional expensive and time-consuming processing steps for cleaning the equipment and transport/packaging systems used.
There is thus a need for alkali metal cinnamate powdery products having improved physical properties with regard to properties such as e.g. dissolution behavior, dustiness, flowability and an improved stability. A solution to this problem was now found by preparing alkali metal cinnamates in a manner as described herein.